OoG - Where'd all that gravity come from? by Xarr

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

OoG - Where'd all that gravity come from?

POSTED BY: XARR
UPDATED: Saturday, July 24, 2004 12:47
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Monday, July 19, 2004 7:07 AM

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm lazy, and don't much feel like sorting through thousands of posts for find a reference to it.

I converted a couple friends last week. They were very unsure about checking out a new(canceled) series, especially a sci-fi/space show. But I tried anyway. I forced them to borrow my DVD, expecting it to take them several weeks to even consider watching it. 3 days later, I found out they had spent an entire saturday (10 HOURS!!) watching ep after ep! YAY!! They loved it!!

One of my friends said he really loved it, but found a couple problems here and there. He mentioned one that really blew me away. I can't believe I had never caught this before. In Out of Gas, the ship has no power, no engines, no life support..... but it still has gravity. I understand that filming an episode with 30 minutes of weightlessness would be extremely dificult. But I just can't believe I never caught that before.

Does anyone have one of those super-hardcore-fanbased-scifi-physics lessons to explain this? Otherwise, I'm going stick with my suspension of disbelieve for the sake of the story.

That was my favorite episode. Well... until I saw Objects in Space.

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Monday, July 19, 2004 7:20 AM

JADEHAND

The ship wasn't exactly without power. The radio was still working when the call came through. There had to be some power or the they never would've bothered setting up the red button to call the shuttles back. Lights were also working. Just the engine and life support were totally shot, and heating too. I guess Gravity plating runs off battery power like the lights and radio.
Hope that helps, 'course I'm no engineer or ship's mechanic, so maybe there's a better explaination?

Visit WWW.Marillion.Com for a better way to live

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Monday, July 19, 2004 7:47 AM

KASUO

A wizard did it.

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Monday, July 19, 2004 7:59 AM

NERVOUSPETE

A form of cavorite, the Wellsian miracle substance, smeared like so much jam over the hull.

Hmm, possibly too obscure...

"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash

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Monday, July 19, 2004 8:00 AM

XARR

Quote:
Originally posted by kasuo:
A wizard did it.

HAHAHAHAHAHA That's the best response EVER! hahahaha

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Monday, July 19, 2004 8:01 AM

EST120

Quote:
Originally posted by kasuo:
A wizard did it.

i think you are refering to the magical gravity trolls.

"i can't comprehend the ways that i miss you, they come to light in my mistakes."
-neko case

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Monday, July 19, 2004 9:37 AM

NUISANCE

Jadehand I like your explanation that the ship is not completely without power in OoG. Even though I didn't notice the gravity thing myself (my mom pointed it out to me), it had started to bother me about the ep. Maybe now I can watch OoG without thinking about gravity.

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Monday, July 19, 2004 10:00 AM

STATIC

There was gravity b/c the episode wasn't about loss of power or loss of blood. The loss of power/blood was simply the vehicle to get Mal to a point where the writing could justify well-placed flashbacks to introduce the characters to you and set up something of their pasts. . .as well as to demonstrate how deeply devoted Mal is to his crew, and ultimately, his lady, Serenity.

Gravity would have just been a techie plot point, and as we've all agreed. . .Firefly is CHARACTER driven, which is why it was the best gorram show ever.

==================================================
"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."

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Monday, July 19, 2004 10:35 AM

PURPLEBELLY

Slightly OT, but it bugs me. When Serenity docks with an Alliance cruiser, she rolls but 'gravity' is similarly vectored on both vessels. Does this mean that Alliance vessels are upside-down? Are they Australians? Is there a Farscape connection? Should I care?

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Monday, July 19, 2004 11:02 AM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly:
Slightly OT, but it bugs me. When Serenity docks with an Alliance cruiser, she rolls but 'gravity' is similarly vectored on both vessels. Does this mean that Alliance vessels are upside-down? Are they Australians? Is there a Farscape connection? Should I care?

There is no evidence to say that they are not upside down, so maybe they are.

Only on Wednesdays

Yes.

No.

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Monday, July 19, 2004 11:05 AM

RAWDEAL

You make a good point

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Monday, July 19, 2004 11:34 AM

MANWITHPEZ

Important people don't do field work.

In "The Message", doesn't Kaylee mention very slightly the working of gravity aboard Serenity. She only mentions the part and when it kicks in when the got atmospheric. From that, I kinda got the impression that each ship contains its own gravity, but I see where you're coming from. Who knows. Alliance cruisers are so big, that perhaps different parts have different gravity. But, I wouldn't want to have to be he one to go from one section to another.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Monday, July 19, 2004 3:06 PM

SHINYSEVEN

Perhaps Mal's reference to "terrifying Space Monkeys" was to distinguish them from the "benevolent Space Monkeys" whose faithful treadmill performance supplies the ship with gravity.

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Monday, July 19, 2004 4:35 PM

SHINY

Quote:
Originally posted by NervousPete:

A form of cavorite, the Wellsian miracle substance, smeared like so much jam over the hull.

Nope. Watch the beginning of Serenity again (after the trailer, when they are finishing the salvage). As soon as they board and tell Wash they are all back, the gravity in the cargo bay re-engages and the "floating" boxes they had been dragging into the ship crash onto the floor.

"I left my heart in Seren-ity Val-ley..." <-- the farthest I've ever gotten in writing filk. ;)

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Tuesday, July 20, 2004 1:00 PM

WILDHEAVENFARM

Brian: This is the Physics Department.
Chris: That would explain all the gravity.
(a la "Family Guy")

Mary
Always a beast, never a burden.

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Tuesday, July 20, 2004 2:48 PM

FORRESTWOLF

And here I was thinking the gravity came on when the airlock pressurized...some sort of bendy kinda heavy air :)

Seriously, the only gravity modification schemes I've heard of in fringish scientific literature involve some significant electrical current or fields. So IF Joss was by some chance (and I doubt it) basing grav control off ideas already out there, I don't see how they did it in OoG. Sure, there was battery power - but gravity should be one of those things that goes. Too much power to keep it up.

Ah, well. Clearly it was the gravity of the SITUATION that was keeping Mal on his feet...

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:05 AM

the movie is not the Series. Only the facts have been changed, to irritate the innocent; the names of the actors and characters remain the same

Quote:
Originally posted by NervousPete:

A form of cavorite, the Wellsian miracle substance, smeared like so much jam over the hull.

Anticavorite? Smeared on the inside?

Keep the Shiny Side Up

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 4:33 PM

LTNOWIS

When the ship is damaged, the power doesn't go out, except for the engine, and the life support machines that are powered by it. Everything else, like lights, gravity, doors, and shuttle launchers is ok. I would have tried rigging the lights to a radiator, but that's just me.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:44 PM

11THHOUR

Quote:
Originally posted by Forrestwolf:
Ah, well. Clearly it was the gravity of the SITUATION that was keeping Mal on his feet...

*wince*

Oooooo... that one stung... but it's the best explanation yet!

11thHour

________________________________________________

"Doing the impossible makes us mighty... happy."

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:07 PM

WHISPERING

Quote:
Originally posted by LtNOWIS:
When the ship is damaged, the power doesn't go out, except for the engine, and the life support machines that are powered by it.

Didnt the life support broke because of the explosion? Mal sayd something like "but we still have life support?", then Kaylee says something like "No, it must have got broke by the blast", and then Mal says "So what are be breathing?".

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:49 PM

SLOWSMURF

On Bushwhacked just remember if they can control gravity, it would be a simple matter to have the air locked realigned so they could walk into the other ship regardless of how it docked. Would be quite a useful function to have I think.

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:02 PM

LTNOWIS

Quote:
Originally posted by whispering:
Quote:
Originally posted by LtNOWIS:
When the ship is damaged, the power doesn't go out, except for the engine, and the life support machines that are powered by it.

Didnt the life support broke because of the explosion? Mal sayd something like "but we still have life support?", then Kaylee says something like "No, it must have got broke by the blast", and then Mal says "So what are be breathing?".

Dang, how could I have forgotten that!

But wait, then why would the life support machinery get fixed just because they fixed the engine? Thoughts?

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 2:41 PM

SUPERFLY

It's my understanding that the explosion knocked out several important systems on the ship, life support being one of them. It seems to me that other systems were not "knocked out" or "knocked off line," for instance, gravity, radio and lights.

I think they simply couldn't restart the downed systems without the power of the engines, and they couldn't restart the engines without a replacement for the broken part. However, any systems not originally knocked out were still functional.

Am I remembering this right?

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 3:11 PM

THEREALME

I think it was the EMERGENCY life support that got damaged by the explosion. The regular life support was fine, but had no power.

The Real Me

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 4:06 PM

LTNOWIS

Oh, I see. That actually makes a lot of sense. Apparantly summer vacation isn't good for my brain.

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 4:29 PM

DIXIEFLATLINE

Quote:
Originally posted by THEREALME:
I think it was the EMERGENCY life support that got damaged by the explosion. The regular life support was fine, but had no power.

Bingo -- primary life support runs off the engine, emergency life support is a separate system that was damaged by the explosion. Presumably there's an emergency backup for the artificial gravity that did kick in properly, unless the agrav system involves Really Big Capacitors that take a long time to bleed off.

Actually, it might have made for an interesting F/X shot to have everything and everyone come floating off the floor for a second after the explosion, then plop back down as the emergency agrav kicks in.

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Saturday, July 24, 2004 12:47 PM

SHARPSHOOTER

I thought it would help if i pointed out that the entire rest of the Verse seems to have a low opinion of the ship Serenity. Implying the this model or prehaps even ALL of the Firefly class vessels are not exactly 'top notch'.

i.e., one of the many flaws of such a vessel could perhaps be the scewed priority of gravity over other functions of the ship if damage (such as the type sustained in OoG) were to occur. similar to airbags that blow off peoples heads. Just something the manufacturer can get away with.

Perhaps?

"Be sure to call him sir, he likes that."

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